I’m Sarav a.k.a Someone is Special - The Marshal of Blog-a-Ton. Well, the time is ticking along, and we move to our 55th Blog-a-ton edition, which will be on JUNE 14, 2015.

It is going to be a special edition, especially for me, as this is the 25th edition, I'm hosting Blog-a-Ton. I'm excited about it. Are you excited?

Join then... I've arranged something special for all the participants in this edition. Watch this space for more clues.

Before I proceed further, let’s relive the journey together!

........the sweet journey

On 5th July 2009, Blog-a-Ton was born, a misnomer of the word Blogathon and on 1st August 2009, our first edition was hosted by our Marshal Vipul Grover and after 17 editions, he willingly took a break. Our Leo hosted initially, later I took the responsibility on my shoulders to march forward towards the dream!

Our dream is to get 100 participants in one edition, and our motto is to help writers to write better.

Can we make it possible in this edition? Can we read 100 entrants this time? Can we find 100 passionate writers? I hope we can. If you think the same, join us.

I’ve been known to cherish stats a lot. So here you go... in 54 Editions, we have read 1798 Official Entries; that’s an average of 36 entries per edition. We have crowned 151 Blog-a-Tonics so far – 70 GOLD BATOMS, 58 SILVER BATOMS,22 BRONZE BATOMS and 1 MARSHAL PICK. Our Official Followers count is more than the magical four-digit number and we are more than seven hundred plus member family on Facebook!

Do you like to know more numbers that are magical?

Vinay Leo R of I Rhyme Without Reason has won 17 BATOMS (9 GOLD BATOMS, 7 SILVER BATOMS and 1 BRONZE BATOM) in total and has the most in GOLD and SILVER categories. Shilpa Nair of Servings of Mania and Apala Sengupta of A Message in a Bottle has won 2 BRONZE BATOMS each, the most by any. Vinay Leo R is also the best topic giver for BAT. His topic was selected as BAT TOPIC 12 times. Aativas of Times Change has participated in 47 editions, the most by any. Someone of Special of Few Miles is the most capped (24) Marshal. More stats below…

Click on the image for better resolution!

The way we usually go about on Blog-a-ton is that we have a call for topics (This time we are going to select an image and write inspired by the image.) and then by voting, we decide on one of the image as the topic for the month. After that, we give you a week’s time to write your post justifying the theme (IMAGE SELECTED) with a complementary post. Then, on the second Sunday of the succeeding month, you will publish the post on your blog, with our preset header and footer and come to Blog-a-ton and link your post in a comment. The week after the Blog-a-ton day will be for voting for your favorite blog-a-tonics from that edition.

We will be having the secret ballot in this edition.

What you have to do is suggest the IMAGE ALONG WITH CREDITS TO PROPER SOURCE. Moderation is enabled, and I'll select the first six images that come. And we begin voting on that. If I find any image to be inappropriate, or similar to that of a previous edition, that'll not come into the voting list.

Suggestion a image now or Vote for a image of your choice.

IMAGE1

IMAGE2

IMAGE3

Click on the image to zoom!

You can vote for any one image. (Sample: I vote for IMAGE 1)

If you wish to change your vote later and support another image, you can do so during the voting time-frame. But you are allowed only one change-of-vote. I’ll consider only the second vote in that instance.

The voting period is from May 26, 2015, TUESDAY to June 1, 2015 Monday 23:00 HRS IST.

The image that gets the majority votes will be announced on June 1, 2015, 23:59 HRS IST as the BLOG-A-TON 55 image. In case two or more images are tied at the end of voting, my vote as Marshal vote will decide. This time, we are giving you 13 days to write your post.

The Date for BLOG-A-TON 55 is JUNE 14, 2015 Sunday from 00:00 IST to 23:59 IST.

GOLD BATOM

SILVER BATOM

BRONZE BATOM

Congratulations to the well deserved winners (FactFiction, Simran Kaur and Farzana Joonus).

Winners must drop an email to pendownmythought@gmail.com with their real name, phone number and address to claim their badges on or before 25 May 2015 EOD. Winners name will also be featured on Blog-a-Ton Cover Photo. Keep writing..!!!

You all can also read the voting comments now. Just click here to find who all voted for you or liked your entry and what they had to say about it!

A Reminder - Have your number of participation reached 10 or 25???Then you are eligible to be included into the List of Veteran or Super Veteran Blog-a-Tonics. Just drop a mail to "pendownmythought@gmail.com" with the links to all your posts (or simply label all your BAT entries and send Marshal that single link).

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Voting ends at 22:59 hrs (IST) on May 17, 2015. Remember, that means time stamp of your comment can be at most 22:59 and not 23:00 on May 17, 2015.

The curtain closes on a wonderful edition of Blog-a-ton, the 54th one. We had 16 entries from 16 entrants this time. I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for participating! Do comeback and vote for the entries worth winning!We had 16 blog-a-tonics enter in this edition within the stipulated time. Only those 16 Blog-a-Tonics are eligible for voting. So feel free to vote for your B-A-T 54 Favorites.

Click here to check the fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this edition of Blog-a-Ton along with the direct links to their posts.

Three Cheers to all the Blog-a-Tonics.

Please follow the following rules while voting.

1. ONLY THOSE BLOG-A-TONICS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR VOTING (i.e., Contesting for votes and voting for others) WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THIS EVENT WITHIN THE STIPULATED TIME.

2. AS PER OUR RULES LISTED IN BLOGATON 2.0 ANNOUNCEMENT, THE NUMBER OF VOTES IS NOW DETERMINED BY THE NUMBER OF ENTRIES. WE HAVE 16 ENTRIES THIS TIME. In this edition, you can cast upto 3 votes or cheers as we call them, and of course you can not vote for yourself. In short, you are allowed to vote for one, two, OR three. All your votes will carry the same weightage. 3. Your Voting Comment should be as follows:

The voting format has been simplified for assisting you. Replace "BLOGGER NAME" by your name, and "BLOGATON54 ENTRY LINK" by the direct link to your BAT54 Entry. Likewise, for the votes, replace "BLOGATONIC 1 NAME" by the name of the entrant (as used in his/her participation entry) and "BLOGATONIC 1 ENTRY LINK" by the direct link to that blogatonic's BAT54 Entry. Votes NOT IN THIS FORMAT will not be accepted.For eg: A valid vote can look like this:I, Vipul, participated. My Blogaton entry is here: http://vipulgrover.blogspot.com/2010/08/goodbye.htmlI vote for the following:1. Someone is Special: http://www.fewmiles.info/2015/03/an-unsent-letter-written-by-girl.html2. Leo: http://artofleo.com/2014/10/05/a-knot-in-time/3. Dilip Patel: http://indiaicaremovement.blogspot.in/2013/01/deaf-world.html

4. While voting for a Blog-a-Tonic, use his/her name as provided by him/her in his/her participation entry and not his/her profile name.

5. Post yourvote in the comments section of this post.

6. All your votes should be posted in a single comment. So, take your time - go through all posts - only then decide your one or two or three winning entries. In case you vote separately, only the first comment will be taken into consideration.

Now coming to the other rules:

Voting ends at 22:59 (IST) on SUNAY, May 17, 2015.

I have started moderating the comments and won’t display the voting comments till the end of this process to keep the result secret till its conclusion.

After the voting code mentioned above, you may also add the reason, why you voted for a particular post to help others know what you expect as a reader. Moreover, you may also mention the other posts that you liked though you can vote for just for three of them.

A THOUGHT: Be it Gerneral Elections or Blog-a-Ton, it is your duty to vote, because you have the power to select the winner, so please DO NOT WASTE YOUR VOTE.

The Votes will be discarded without any prior warning in case they are not sufficiently compatible with the rules.

A Reminder - Have your number of participations reached 10 or 25???Then you are eligible to be included into the List of Veteran Blog-a-Tonics. Just drop a mail to "pendownmythought@gmail.com" with the links to all your posts (or simply label all your BAT entries and send Marshal that single link).

Remember, the time stamp of your comment can be at most 22:59 on May 17, 2015 and not 23:00.

May the best entries in this edition win..!Poetically Yours,Marshal,Sarav

Saturday, May 9, 2015

The dream is having 100 entrants in a single edition! Can we read 100 entrants this time? Spread the word, invite your friends...

Publish the post anytime between 00:00 HRS and 23:59 HRS on May 10, 2015 (IST)!

Date for Blog-a-Ton 54 : May 10, 2015

As you already know, the topic for Blog-a-Ton 54 has been finalised as:Forever

Please follow theserules while publishing your post and thereafter:

You can choose the title for your post as you wish.

You can submit MORE THAN ONE POST this time, but you are allowed to vote only once irrespective of the number of posts that you submit.

Your post must justify the topic Forever.

The post should start with this code. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode:

<div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>This post has been published by me as a part of the <b>Blog-a-Ton 54</b>; the fifty-fourth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <a href="http://blogaton.in/"><b>Blog-a-Ton</b></a>. </blockquote></div>

The post should end with the following code. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode and replace XX with your Blog-a-Ton participation count:

<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote>
The <b>fellow Blog-a-Tonics</b> who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective <b>posts</b> can be checked <a href="http://www.blogaton.in/2015/05/blogaton54.html"><b>here</b></a>. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <b><a href="http://blogaton.in/">Blog-a-Ton</a></b>. Participation Count: XX</blockquote>
</div>

The winners of Blog-a-Ton 54 will be featured on the Blog-a-ton Facebook Page cover photograph.

Please follow this rule to ensure easy navigability to your post.

Use your complete name to prevent any confusion and mix up with other bloggers.

In case you post your link after the stipulated time, then your submission will not be considered for voting.

Return between May 11th 20:00 IST and May 17th 20:00 IST to vote for your favourite post. A separate notification for the same will be posted upon the conclusion of the event. So donot vote till then. Just enjoy reading the various entries, keeping in mind your favourite but worth-winning ones.

DO NOT USE THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS POST FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. If there are any queries, ask them in the comments section of previous post.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Our dream is to have a hundred participants come in one day and take part in an edition of Blog-a-ton. Thanks for the support as always.

The rules for BLOG-a-TON 54 are:

You can give your post any title that you wish to.

You must justify the theme with your post. You can do it with any type of post (i.e. Poetry, Fiction, 55 fiction, dialogue, Essay... etc). You can also choose to make it serious, humorous, tragic, romantic... whatever setting you'd love to give.

You can write in any language as well, but since most Blog-a-tonics would prefer English as their language of communication, we'd suggest that too, so your post reaches a wider audience, and help you when it comes to BLOG-a-TON 54 voting time.

The other rules (viz. header & footer to put in your post, the way to submit it on May 10, 2015 etc.) will be conveyed to you on May 09, 2015 02:00 PM IST. So kindly wait for that notification then rather than putting up queries right now. If the queries are regarding general pattern of the event, please go through the posts about previous events.

The winners of BLOG-a-TON 54 will be featured on the Blog-a-ton Facebook Page cover photograph.

You have seven days to write your post but please publish the post only on May 10, 2015 and not before. The aim of Blog-a-ton is to have many people posting on the same theme on the same day, and that day is May 10, 2015 for BLOG-a-TON 54!!

Encourage your fellow bloggers to participate in this edition. You can share this post on your various social networking profiles through the ShareThis widget present at the bottom of this post.